This invention relates generally to graphical user interfaces in which a pointer is moved via control of the user to navigate among different interface elements, and more particularly to such elements that are switchably translucent and opaque within such user interfaces.
Graphical user interfaces have become a mainstay with personal computers. In most such interfaces, the user controls movement of a pointer with a pointing device such as a mouse or a touch pad. The pointer is moved to navigate among elements of a user interface, such as windows, dialog boxes, toolbars, etc. When a pointer is moved so that it is positioned over a given element, the element receives subsequent mouse button clicks (where the buttons of the pointing device are referred to as mouse buttons within the art regardless of whether the pointing device is actually a mouse or not). For example, when the user clicks the mouse button while the pointer is positioned over the element, the element is typically made active, so that, for example, subsequent keystrokes entered on the keyboard are then received by the element.
A disadvantage to graphical user interfaces is that the number of windows a user may desire to have open can cause the screen to become cluttered. For example, a user may have a window for a news-related Internet web site, another window for an instant-messaging service, an expanded toolbar for a digital music player, and a window for a word processor in which the user is actually working and which is active. Thus, while the window for the word processor is arguably the most important to the user since that is the one he or she is currently working in, the other windowsxe2x80x94and other interface elements such as toolbars, etc.xe2x80x94may nevertheless also be important, because they are conveying information that the user may still wish to see. Unfortunately, they can also be more of a hindrance than a help to the user, since ultimately they occupy parts of the screen that would otherwise be used by the word processor window.
Current solutions within the prior art to this problem include the user minimizing any window that is not active, so that it is substantially if not completely hidden from view, or resizing the window so that it occupies less screen space. However, these and other prior art solutions are problematic, because they result in information being hidden from the user that he or she may need or want to see. For example, if the user is keeping an news-related Internet web site window open to see when a particular story is first covered on the site, minimizing the window or making it smaller can frustrate this objective. For such reasons, as well as other reasons, there is a need for the present invention.
The present invention relates to graphical user interface elements that are switchably translucent and opaque. In one embodiment, such an element is initially set to a default, first mode in which the element is translucent when the pointer is not positioned over the element. When the pointer has been moved such that it is positioned over the element, the element becomes opaque. In other embodiments, various heuristics are applied to the opaque-to-translucent and the translucent-to-opaque transformations. For example, when the pointer is moved over the element, there may be a delay prior to the element becoming opaque. As another example, when the pointer remains over the element for a predetermined amount of time, the element may revert back to translucency from opacity.
Embodiments of the invention provide for advantages not found within the prior art. Graphical user interface elements, such as toolbars, windows, dialog boxes, etc., can remain on the screen, thus conveying information to the user while not obscuring the active window or other element in which the user is currently working. This is accomplished by these non-active elements becoming translucent, such that the active element underneath is displayed through the non-active elements to some degree. For example, a user working in a word processor window, but monitoring a news-related web site window, can have the latter window become translucent, such that the information in the word processor window is displayed through, but such that information in the news-related web site window is nevertheless still visible to some degree. When the user then wishes to view the web site window more clearly, he or she can move the pointer over this window, to cause it to become opaque.